Azerbaijani WWII soldier’s belongings returned to relatives after 82 years PHOTO

A solemn ceremony was held at the Victory Museum on Poklonnaya Hill in Moscow to return the personal belongings of Red Army soldier Mammad Fattah oglu Khudaverdiyev to his family, 82 years after he went missing in action during World War II. Khudaverdiyev’s remains were discovered earlier this year in the Smolensk region of Russia, bringing long-awaited closure to his relatives.

Yusif Vezirov, advisor at the Azerbaijani Embassy in Russia, praised the dedicated efforts of the search teams, Caliber.Az reports via TASS.

“A deep bow to all the search groups, to the searchers. You are doing a very necessary, very important job. This is truly our common Victory — a multinational Victory. This is our memory, and it will be with us forever,” he said.

Emotional during the ceremony, Khudaverdiyev’s nephew, 64-year-old Gasanagha Khudiev, expressed gratitude and sorrow: “Thank you for the Victory you have given us. Eternal memory to the fallen heroes.”

The discovery of Khudaverdiyev’s remains came as part of a larger search operation by Russian teams in the Dukhovshchina district of the Smolensk region, where four Red Army soldiers’ bodies were found lying in a trench about one meter apart.

Born in 1918 in the village of Goveri, Lerik district of Azerbaijan, Khudaverdiyev was drafted into the Soviet army in 1942 and served with the 134th Rifle Division. He went missing during an assault on the village of Verdino in the Smolensk region on June 1, 1943. Identification was possible thanks to a spoon inscribed with his name found among his personal effects.

Khudaverdiyev’s family had long sought answers. After relocating to Baku, they lost contact with him following his conscription. His father, Fattah Teymur oglu Khudaverdiyev, made attempts through the Military Commissariat in 1947 to locate his son, but to no avail.

Now, more than eight decades later, the return of Khudaverdiyev’s belongings and the confirmation of his fate provide a bittersweet closure to a story marked by decades of uncertainty and loss.

By Sabina Mammadli